Akzo Nobel N.V. (AkzoNobel; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) has announced its intention to seek agreement from the Board and shareholders of ICI Pakistan Ltd. (ICI Pakistan) to separate the organization's paints and chemicals businesses. Under the terms of the proposal,…
Teijin Limited (Tokyo; www.teijin.co.jp/english) has announced that the Utsunomiya Factory (Tochigi Prefecture) of Teijin DuPont Films Ltd., which had suspended polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film production following the earthquake in northeastern Japan on March 11, resumed partial operations on April 30.…
As chemical processors continue their quest to process more with less equipment, they are seeking reactors capable of helping with this endeavor. For this reason, many are turning to continuous flow reactors because they provide scaleability and flexibility. However, vendors…
Evonik builds surfactants plant in China March 30, 2011 — Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is building an integrated production plant for organic specialty surfactants at its site in Shanghai, China. With an investment in the upper double-digit million…
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com), Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp. (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Corp. (Tokyo; www.mitsubishicorp.com) have signed a strategic joint venture (JV) agreement to form a limited liability company, Saudi Japanese Acrylonitrile Company (SHROUQ), which…
Koksan PET Packaging Industry Co., a leading producer of PET preforms has signed a contract with Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH (Berlin, Germany and Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com) to build a new plant for the production of high-quality polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Gaziantep,…
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com), in consortium with Tomé Engenharia, was awarded by Petrobras a lump sum turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, for five new units at the Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão, state of São Paulo, Brazil. This…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi.co.jp) has successfully established technology to produce ethanol for automobile fuel, satisfying the standards of the Japanese Automotive Standards Organization (JASO), from lignocellulose (soft cellulose) such as rice straw and barley straw. Verification…
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by KiOR, Inc. (Pasadena, Tex.; www.kior.com) to build a first-of-its-kind biomass-to-renewable crude facility to be located in Columbus, Miss. The facility is designed to process approximately…
Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealis.com) has invested €7.8 million to convert an underground naphta cavern in Stenungsund, Sweden, for butane use. The new cavern is now by far the largest in Europe, and can handle both butane at ambient temperature…